This invention relates to an improved tomato harvester and to an improved tomato harvesting method.
Great savings for the public have resulted by the use of mechanical harvesting of tomatoes, in the tomatoes used for canning at least. This has enabled fewer people to do more work and to do it better and when used in conjunction with tomatoes especially bred for uniform ripening gives a large recovery from the field, so that the farmer has prospered as well.
However, mechanical harvesting has not been without problems. One of these has related to the pickup of dirt along with the tomato plants. Getting rid of these dirt clods has caused problems, since some farmers pick up so much dirt that it has become difficult for the sorters to separate the tomatoes from the dirt. The farmers do not want simply to discard the clods, since this would result in discarding loose tomatoes of about the same size as the clods. The present invention provides a good way of getting rid not only of fine dirt but also of clods substantially the size of tomatoes or even larger while still recovering loose tomatoes.
Some growers have also been dissatisfied with the recovery of tomatoes from the plants, saying that the shaking devices heretofore in use have not shaken off a sufficient number of tomatoes. The present invention is also directed to that problem and provides for an increased vigor of shaking to obtain more tomatoes from the plants.
The invention is also directed to numerous smaller problems which will appear in the course of discussion. Generally, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved tomato harvester directed particularly to improved recovery in the amount of tomatoes while still handling them with the requisite tenderness so that they are not damaged. It also has as its object improving the ease of sorting while still optimizing these recoveries. Other objects include solving the problems which such attempts at improved recovery result in, such as vastly improved mechanical separation of dirt and plant vegetation from the tomatoes.